Yummy

If you like sweet and sour chicken, especially from Fongs in Rexburg, you have to try this recipe. It's so good, and tastes almost like Fongs! I made this for lunch today, and wow! I was so impressed at the flavor!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes
1 egg, wisked
cornstarch
1 T extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup sugar
4 T ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 to 1 1/2 cups orange juice

Dip chicken in egg, then coat chicken evenly in cornstarch. Cook in hot pan with oil until almost done. Wisk together remaining ingredients. Pour onto chicken and stir frequently until sauce thickens. If sauce thickens too much, add more orange juice and stir until desired thickness. Pour over cooked white or fried rice. Feeds 3-4 people.

This recipe cooks up so fast, and it is so delicious. I have never had homemade sweet and sour chicken that tasted this good.

It worked!!

The SD card worked in the laptop! In fact, it downloaded the photos much faster than connecting the camera to the computer. So here is a ton of pictures from today at Hoover Dam. Someday I am going to figure out how to do a slideshow...I think that would be faster to create than this, but anyway...ENJOY!!

Ammon is in Nevada, and Zenock is in Arizona

This is the new bridge/road being built over the Colorado River to both connect LV to Phoenix better and more directly and to stop all the traffic having to drive over the dam. It's supposed to be done this fall.

Arizona side

More Arizona

Saturday is a Special Day...

It's the day we have fun before Sunday!! We put on our shoes and we brush our teeth. Then we go potty before going on a short road trip (to the tune of the primary song about getting ready for the Sabbath). We had so much fun today!!! We went to Hoover Dam - to which I have never been in all the years we have come to Vegas to visit.
We got some awesome pictures...and I would happily post them today, but for the life of me, I cannot find the cord to connect the camera to the computer to download. It seems I have a few more boxes to go through still! Hopefully I can find it tomorrow before church and then do a post then. I had a breakthrough just now. I think I have an SD drive on the laptop, so maybe I can load the pictures up.

Kids say the darndest things

Last night Ammon asked if the clouds were fog and how do they get to the ground. Zenock piped up and said: First, you have to get a spoon then a tall, tall ladder. You go up and scoop and then come back down. That's how clouds get on the ground. Three year olds are so smart!

It rained for about 10 minutes yesterday, but it didn't rain, it poured. And now we won't have moisture for at least another month. I think I might miss the spring showers.

We took the kids to the lion habitat at MGM. It's one of the few free attractions here. There were three lions there, and they were up walking around for some of the time. We got to walk under them in a glass tunnel, so we could see their bellies and huge feet. It was fun for the kids, and for us too. 5 pm during the week is the time to go do stuff on the strip. It was dead...compared to the weekend. There are some things that residents get discounts on, so when we get Nevada drivers licenses, we can go do some of the fun things.

Settling In

We are finally mostly unpacked here in Nevada. The weather is wonderful, and Brady is loving riding his motorcycle all the time. Apparently we left Idaho just in time. There is 10 inches of snow in Idaho Falls, most of it coming yesterday. No sledding for us I guess. But we can ride bikes all the time, so that's a good trade.

We get to go to church tomorrow at 1 pm. That means no naps on Sunday anymore, but bedtime is at 8pm sharp...so that means I can probably get away with bedtime at 7:30! Now that's cool, even though I have to deal with grumpy kids.

I have a bunch of pictures to post of Christmas, the kids playing with cousins and other stuff, but I haven't gotten around to unloading the camera yet. Maybe tomorrow...

It's been 6 years already

After Brady's mission farwell May 2001

Engagement Fall 2003

Married for less than an hour!

Six years later, here we are with two boys! It's been a heavenly six years for us, and later this week we enter a new chapter of our lives in Nevada. I love you Brady!!!

Decisions, decisions

Okay, so I should post the most recent happenings at our house. The first Saturday in December we decide to move to Henderson, Nevada. We are out of work, and hence need money to pay bills. So we are going where the really good paying jobs are. Originally we thought about moving there next August if Brady gets accepted to the MSW program at UNLV, but after much thought and prayer we decided it was best for us to move there now. We will be loading up the moving truck on Christmas Eve – except for the Christmas tree and other things we need to sleep there one last time. Christmas day after breakfast we will be heading south for the winter, and the next few years as well. Hopefully since we will have established residency by summer Brady can get right in to his program and finish his master’s degree so we can move on with our lives. We should be back in Idaho in 5 years or less…but Nevada will be fun.

I know I will have a hard time leaving my family and friends, and most especially our ward. However, the Church is the same wherever we go, so I’ll be able to make new friends. We’ll also be near Brady’s family. The kids will have so much fun playing with their cousins all the time instead of once or twice a year. It will be an adventure for all of us, and we are ready to move on. I get to do the last of my visiting teaching on Thursday, and then we have just one week left in this cold, cold weather.

This is the top 10 things we will miss about Idaho.
1. shoveling snow
2. slipping on the ice
3. getting snow inside our shoes when we should be wearing our snow boots instead
4. walking on melted snow in socks
5. having the furnace turn on when we are watching a really good movie
6. scraping snow and ice off the car
7. swerving around people who don’t know how to drive on slick roads
8. spending 20 minutes putting snow clothes on and only playing outside for 10 minutes because it is too cold
9. feeling the draft from the window while sitting on the couch
10. being cold

Lord of the Dance

Thank you Keriann for showing me how to put videos on here. This is fun!

Christmas is almost here!

I just wanted to say I am glad my Christmas shopping is officially done. I finished up with a couple of things on Black Friday, and now I don't have to think about what to get people anymore. It's kind of a relief, but it makes me wish Christmas was next week. I am really excited for the boys to see what Santa brings, the family party on Christmas eve, and going to our parent's ward party since our ward doesn't have a family Christmas party.

Now if I could just get the snow to stay...it would be perfect for Christmas!!

Thanksgiving was great. We went to my parents for the traditional family get-together, and then Friday night we were at Brady's parents for another yummy meal. I got to see my sister from North Idaho, and I started my pajama pant sewing for us to wear on Christmas eve. Hopefully I will finish that project this week. I love the holiday season, it's truely my favorite, and the music is the best!!!

Last week I had my two wisdom teeth removed...now I have no wisdom left! I am healing well, and I was able to eat Thanksgiving food without any trouble. By the way, I am still very proud of the peach pie I made from scratch. It was awesome! Thanks Mom for the great recipe, the use of your peaches and kitchen...and everything else! I love being with family to celebrate a holiday where we can reflect on what we are thankful for.

Last week our lesson in Relief Society was about having an attitude of gratitude. Sister Treasure challenged us to write down something we were thankful for each day before Thanksgiving. I never wrote it down, but each night as I was trying to fall asleep, my mind would wander over all the many things I am thankful for. The first things I thought of were my wonderful husband, my two rambunctious boys, our wonderful ward, friends and neighbors we can rely on, and family who will support us in whatever may happen in our lives. I am also very thankful to have a temple close by...we have been able to attend twice this month, and plan to do the same in December. Words cannot express how grateful I am for the opportunity to be a member of the Church. I know that the friendships, the support, and the love are present throughout the world. No matter where we go, the Church is always the same!

Another catch up

I find myself behind on my blogging again. So here's a recap since last time. We went to Las Vegas on October 9th for a weekend trip so we could be there for Brady's nephew's, Max, baptism. It was a really fast trip, and we had so much fun with the family that we all wanted to stay longer, but I had to get back for work on Monday. The kids did so great on the long drive to and from. They did get tired of being in the car, but so did I, so that's okay. We watched a lot of movies and read stories, and listened to really fun music. And them we watched for fun things like tractors working, animals in semi truck trailers, cool cars, etc.

Izabella giving Zenock a ride in Grammy's backyard

Max blowing out his candles

Halloween was great. On Friday night we went to my work for a spook alley. The boys were a little scared, but they loved the candy. Saturday we went to our church for a ward activity. We had a chili cook off, and trick or treating inside the gym. It was so much nicer to do it that way than trunk-or-treating out in the cold. I made the costumes for a total of $10 for both. We used a bunch of stuff we already had, and painted their shirts and made a cape. They were both the main character, Super Why, from the PBS kids show Super Why. Ammon told me next year I should be Wonder Red for Halloween. I thought that was pretty funny! After the candy line, they did some carnival games and got fun prizes. I think this was my favorite ward party this year.

Bishop Baird really went all out this year for the kids. Everyone thought he looked so great!

Zenock, Abby, Austin, Ammon

We also had two birthdays. Zenock’s was the 19^th, and Ammon’s was the 29^th. This year we did a small family party with out parents at our house. I got off work so late that we just did cake and ice cream after I got home. Brady picked up my favorite flavor ever, huckleberry, from Reed’s Dairy in town. It was so good, and we still have some left, so that has become my favorite treat after the kids go to bed.

Zenock's cake, the monster truck Avenger

Ammon's cake, the monster truck El Torro Loco

I am looking forward to tomorrow being over because I get my wisdom teeth out. WOOHOO! Lucky me! I am hoping they put me completely under because I really don’t want to know what they are doing. Thankfully I only have two, but they are on opposite sides, so I think it’s going to be Jamba Juice for me for a couple of days. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because I still have a gift certificate for it that I haven’t used yet.

It’s also my Mom’s birthday tomorrow, and I don’t think I will be the best company. However, I am looking forward to getting most of the family together to celebrate. It will be really fun, and the kids are excited to play at Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a while. I just hope that Mom has a great birthday. She’s certainly my favorite Mom (okay, only Mom), and I love her very much!!

My other little man

Today is Ammon's 5th birthday. He's come a long way since he was born. He's big, smart, has a sense of humor, and he loves to do boy things. I think he is getting excited for school next year. He's not a baby anymore, but he'll always be a baby to me.

Ammon at 5 months

Ammon at 5 years

Zenock is no longer 2

My baby's birthday was yesterday. Looking at these photos makes me wish he was small again. Now Zenock talks a lot, has his own opinions and ideas, and always wants to be cuddled at the wrong times! I love my man very much, and I know he had a great birthday with the grandpas and grandmas who came to celebrate with him last night. Isn't he the cutest!

Three months old
Three years old